Nine-month-old Katie, who suffers from intractable epilepsy, received urgent attention at the Children’s Memorial Hospital on Tuesday night after going into another violent seizure.

Her dad, Gary McCann, told the MAIL: “Doctors brought her out of the seizure within three to five minutes. Back home at Antrim (Hospital) it would have taken at least five hours. That’s the difference in the quality of treatment.”

Gary and his partner Mekila Maguire flew to the States last week after little Katie’s condition deteriorated.

“My only regret is that we didn’t come here sooner,” he said. “The doctors have a ‘we can do’ attitude and are positive that they can help Katie.

“Their attitude has made us feel optimistic about the future because we were used to hearing negative things like ‘we can’t do this’ back at home.”

Gary reckons it will be Monday before the result of the EGG scan is known and the couple will then have a consultation with the medics.

“Our big worry is that if they go ahead with the operation it will cost £160,000 and we have raised over £80,000, so the fundraising at home is needed now more than ever,” he continued.

The couple have been touched by the support and backing they received from the Caldwell family from Omagh whose son Billy has been receiving treatment for the same condition as Katie for the past nine months.

“They arranged accommodation and got us picked-up at the airport in a limo,” said Gary. “We can’t thank them enough.”

He said Billy was given six months to live and sent home from hospital, but since coming to Chicago continues to make progress.

He also praised Iris Robinson, MP for Strangford, who was visiting the Caldwell family and viewing the hospital facilities when Gary and Mekila arrived.

“We had lunch with her and she couldn’t get over the facilities the hospital had for epilepsy treatment and how Northern Ireland was so far behind it was Third World.”

Gary now estimates the cost of treatment at £300,000 and says the family could be in Chicago for five months or longer, depending on Katie’s recovery if she under-goes surgery.